I was trying to find one place where I could order everything I wanted but because of the price differences, I'll be ordering from several but I'm trying to keep shipping to a minimum.My question is, is there any or much difference between MA4000, MA4000-4001, and MA4001-4002 starters? I want something that will make Cheddar, Brie, Camembert, and Havarti. Maybe Provalone too.Thank you and Happy New Year!!

Keep in mind for every place you order you will be paying a minimum shipping charge of about $6-$8. So saving a few dollars for one or two items could cost you in the long run. Especially when thing like cultures are no bigger than a packet of yeast.

As far as the cultures go. Any of those should work but some people prefer to use different cultures for different cheeses. If I remember right the MA 4000 series is a quick acidifier. I would check some of the threads for the cheeses you are intersted in and see what types others have used and the effect it produced.

I've found the online web based cheese making supply house's websites a good albeit simple source for which manufactured cultures work best for which cheeses. You could also look in manufacturer CHR Hansen's cheese making guides for their starter cultures.

On MA 4001 & MA 4002 (I haven't heard of a 4000), my understanding is they were originally manufactured by Rhodia under their Ezal product line name, that Ezal was bought out by Danisco in 2004, and that Danisco continues to manufacture that line under their Choozit product line. I've looked at the Dansico's Product Data Sheets for MA 4001 and for 4002 on Fromagex (in French) and can't see any difference. So maybe they are just different generations?